The White Devil

Alexandre Volkoff, 1930)             10/28 MoMA
A lavish Russian émigré-stocked, German-produced “soundie,” adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s memoir of the mid-19th-century Russian-Caucasian War, The White Devil has no dialogue—only music, synchronized audio effects, and mishigas. Either pale-eyed, charismatic Ivan Mosjoukine or dancing fool Lil Dagover could be the movie’s eponymous subject, just as this long-forgotten UFA spectacular might pass as a new movie by Guy Maddin.

Thu., Oct. 28, 4 p.m., 2010